The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to appliances, and more particularly, to a spray device and implementation thereof for reducing the consumption of a washing fluid, e.g., water, in the appliance such as during one or more rinse cycles.
Some appliances such as household washing machines typically include a cabinet that houses an outer tub for containing wash and rinse water, a perforated wash basket within the tub, and an agitator within the basket. A drive and motor assembly is mounted underneath the stationary outer tub to rotate the basket and the agitator relative to one another, and a pump assembly is configured to pump water from the tub to a drain to execute a wash cycle.
These wash cycles often include a rinse portion with a deep-fill process wherein objects (e.g., articles of clothes) in the basket are completely submerged in water and the water is agitated. This process permits a large amount of water to mix with additives (e.g., detergent) that remains in the clothes after they are washed. While the concentration of the additive in the rinse water is relatively small, a large amount of detergent can be removed from the clothes due to the large amount of water involved. For deep-fill cycles this amount is upwards of 12 to 24 gallons, which is discarded in favor of fresh rinse and/or wash water that is dispensed into the wash tub for further cleaning of the objects.
Because it may be desirable to reduce water consumption in washing operations, at least some types of household washing machines employ systems that re-circulate rinse water. In one type of system, rinse water is collected in the bottom of the tub and pumped back through a plurality of spray nozzles located above the basket. The rinse water is re-circulated for a pre-determined period of time before being discharged to a drain. While such systems are effective to reduce water consumption, they require elements such as pumps and conduits, which may result in additional and/or increased material and assembly costs.
There is therefore a need for an appliance such as a washing machine that is configured for reduced water consumption, and more particularly, for configurations of the washing machine that can reduce such consumption during rinse portions of the wash cycle.